[obol] Re: RBA? Common Grackle (was "Hermiston area birds")
- From: Timothy Kadlecek <timkadlecek@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: namitzr@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 17:45:36 -0700
I realize that when identifying birds to species, one needs to look at the
whole bird and appreciate and agree with what you are saying. However, I kept
going back to the bill. The bill on second photo of this bird is difficult to
evaluate since it is full of food. However the first photo seems to show such
a long decurved bill compared to the other Brewer's Blackbird I photographed
and compared to what is shown and described in field guides. To my eye, this
bill does not look like the "short, straight bill" of a Brewer's as described
by Sibley. Maybe the bill looks like it does because of the projection of the
image, or maybe there is variability in its size and shape and therefore it is
not as good of a field mark? I'm not sure.
Tim
On Jun 4, 2014, at 1:09 PM, Russ Namitz <namitzr@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> The initial assessment of Brewer's Blackbird for this bird was the correct
> one.
>
> Grackles not only have longer tails than blackbirds, but also have a shorter
> primary projection which adds to the elongated rear-end gestalt of the bird.
>
> Plumage-wise, the head, neck and chest of a Common Grackle shows a demarcated
> line of iridescence separating the back and belly from these regions. This
> can be seen in both subspecies (i.e. color forms) of the Common Grackle. It
> should be noted also, that the most common form to "vagrate" to Oregon is the
> "bronzed" Common Grackle.
>
> Good birding,
> Russ Namitz
> Medford, OR
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